I've permanently turned on Do Not Disturb and configured it to allow calls from people on my contact list. This won't work for everyone but it works really well for me. I no longer get unwanted calls. People I don't have in my contact list are forced to leave a message without my phone ever ringing.
Me too. It's a shame its gotten to this point though. But even worse than a spam call is a spam call from someone's legitimate number. For a period, someone was making sales calls from my Mom's number. She ended up getting about twenty angry return calls a day and had to explain to everyone she didn't call them. She wasn't aware of any alternative, so she changed her number. Sad!
This is the only realistic practical solution we have so far. The other ideas here cannot be done because incentives are not aligned properly. Fining telcos? With the FCC and most lawmakers in the pockets of telcos, this is not going to happen. Cryptographically secure CallerID? Who would pay for this? Telcos cracking down on robocallers themselves? No chance, since they make money from robocalling.
It's like asking the post office to solve junk mail. Where's the incentive?
That's what I do. If I am expecting a call from a non-contact I just disable it for an hour. Everything else gets sent straight to voicemail after a 4-ring wait.
